TUCSON, Ariz. - Weeks ago, the Pima Animal Care Center took to Facebook to ask the community to foster a pet in the shelter to help amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Kristen Hassen, the director for PACC, told KGUN9 they decided to do this to minimize the amount of pets inside of their kennels.
“We realized that we needed to do everything that we could to conserve that precious PPE and other medical supplies and we really needed to reduce the number of pets housed in the shelter," said Hassen.
Since asking the community for help fostering pets, Hassen said about 800 pets have been placed into foster homes, leaving about 150 pets left that are eligible.
Hassen said so many people came to help PACC by fostering that staff decided they needed to change practices in order to keep everyone safe and healthy.
The animal shelter has switched over to appointment only visits.
“We had to do that for a really amazing reason and that’s because so many people were coming to try to help us," said Hassen.
Hassen added that although they've gotten a lot of their pets into foster homes, they are concerned about what is to come.
She stressed that between April and May of 2019, PACC took in about 4,000 pets, mainly because of puppy and kitten season. She said she worries another high intake season could mean trouble for the animal shelter.
However, despite those worries, Hassen said she trust the community will help with whatever they need.
“There are fosters on deck waiting there’s only about 400 people waiting for those puppies and kittens to come in and we’re going to need a lot more," she said.
